The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1887-04-01
The Egis & Intelligencer
Bel Air. Md, Aprll1, 1857.
FAR VI LIFE.
Address OF Henry q. EaaIlOweiI BEFORE
The EnllaiOn Enrmera, Cluh-

hHNAA
Address Of Henry g. HALLOWEEN Bef0r
the FnllstOn Farmers Club.
Mr. Henry e. Hallowell, of Montgomery coun
~, delivered an interesting and suggestive al
dress on Farm Life, before the Fallston an
wilma Farmers Clubs, in the hall over Moor
Bros store, Fallston, last Friday night.
Mr.. Hallowell traced a remarkable uniformi
Y in the agricultural progress of Hartford ant
Montgomery counties. Both have passct
through times OF poverty and desolation anc
share now in reasonable degree of prosperity
In comparing the two counties By the report Of
the last census, he found the following facts:
Value of farm lands.-Harford, $4,000, 600
Montgomery, $4,000 Value Of fertilizer.
bought in one year.-,Harford, s27i,0OO; Mont
gomery, $35j,00J Value of farm products same
year.--Harford, 81 $50, 600; Montgomery, Si,7s8.
900. No. of improved acres.-Harford 16T,0 900
Montgomery, 1900. Dairy products.-hiilk--
gallons. Butter-Harford, 62s 900 lbs. Montgom.
cry, $4,000 lbs Potatoes-Harford, 5000 bush.
els; Montgomery, $4,000; wheat.Harford, 49,
100 bushels; Montgomery, $4,000 From these
statistics Mr.. Hallowcll argued the advantage
of dairy farming.
mers keeping detailed and accurate accounts OF
all their transactions. If merchant went on
year after year without balancing his books his
store would soon be for rent. The truth is, the
farmer lives in spite of himself. When hard
times come farmers can reduce their expenses
but the merchant mnst keep mp a certain degree
OF expense. Farmers can add to their incomes
by allowing nothing to go to waste and by at
tention to little things. For instance an i'm
mense number OF eggs are imported from Hol-
land and England, which ought TO be produced
In this country.
There is "a grea. waste of fertilzlng material
by drainage from the barn yard If turned into
cisterns, pumped out and spreai over grass
fields it would wonderfully increase their pro-
ductiveness: Farm machinery should be clean
ell, oiled and put away when harvest is over.
Farmers owe debt to the past and particu-
larry to such writer's as Ruiiin, of Virginia; John
5: Skinner and the venerable Samuel Sands, Of
Maryland. 1t Is our duty to pass on to the fu-
ture the results of our experience. If we OBJ
serve fact do we mention it to the farmers
club or communicate il to our county paper or
to the agricultural press?
1t is important for farmers to come together
and organize for mutual benefit. In MontHome-
ry county farmers convention is held annual
ly, at which agricultural topics are informally
discussed. Two turnpikcs, safety-gates at rail-
road crossings, &C., have grown out Of these
has also been organized, of which entire fami-
lies are members. Meetings are held at each
house, IN succession, on summer afternoons
Each member takes samples of vegetables,
fruits or flowers. and they left with the hos
tess. Questions are asked, gardens arc examin-
ed and criticized and much valuable information
is acquired.
Farmers as a class are not observant and
thoughtful enough. The speaker remembered
his astonishment at finding out, by actual meas
uremeut, that horses head is as long as flour
BARREL and his neck, when erect, not long
enough to reach the ground. The ligaments
however, stretch two or three inches, enabling
the horse to get his head to the ground. There
is a custom in Montgomery and elsewhere of
hived, in the belief that 1t will confuse the bees
and cause them to alight. This custom origi-
mated in England, the noise being made by the
owner of the escaped swarm to signify that the
bees are his pr p rty. IL is there called tang
ing" from the word tang" to hold.
Farming has advanced in every direction. 1t
is now fashionable to be a farmer, and to talk Of
cattle-of Jerseys, Of Short Horns and of Hol-
stems. When Hercules undertook to strange
AntBus, every time he threw him to the ground
he arose with fresh vigor, gained from contact
with his mother, the Earth; and the only way
Hercules could finish him was to hold him up
above the earth while he strangled him. This
Is a rich truth. The nearer we get to nature the
safer and happier we are. Agriculture has i'm
proved everywhere: In virginia the stores
used to be the lounging place for the best young
men and Cotton was said to be King. Great was
the lamentation when the King was dethroned.
But the fact is that 30 per cent. more cotton is
now raised in the South than before the war,
aud while then only 10 per cent. of white-labor
was employed in raising cotton, now so per cent.
of 1t is at work producing it.
Farmers should do all they can to make their
lives pleasant, One way to do this is to have our
surroundings tasteful and attractive. Neatness
and cleanliness will add much to the pleasure of
home. Unsighty objects should be removed
and few flowers planted. These things are not
only beautiful TO the eye but they have higher
ana better use in the way of sanitation, Nature
has given us sentinels to guard our health. If
we perceive an unnatural taste or odor, 1t is
warning Of danger; lce-ponds are fruitful
sources of disease. 1t Is n mistake to suppose
that water is purified by being frozen. Bacteria
can be frozen in impure water and poison the
SYSTEM me pest way Is TO nave an 1ce-pOnd
constructed so that all the water can be drawn
off in summer and let grass grow over it. In the
fall flood it with pure water and you will have
pure ice.
Farmers should be careful about their water
supply. He had seen places where the surface
OF wells was honey-combed with refuse from the
kitchen. This material trickles down, vitiates
the water and sickness ensues.
we may talk about the beauties and enjoy
ments of country life, but the statistics show us
that large number of the insane belong to the
agricultural classes. This shows that something
Is wrong. There is absolute necessity for us to
mingle with our follows. The tendency of far
mers lives Is towards isolation. The husbands,
latlon as much as their wives, daughters and
sisters. Tho farmers go out and mingle with
their neighbors while the women stay at home
engaged in drudgery. Does every farmer see
times are hard, does he say I'll do a little more
work and will keep a domestic to help my
wifef' Is he careful to give her that love and
affection he was so glad to give her before mar
riageI Let your wife do some of the going
abroad which rests you and which would do her
good. Domestic politeness is the stronghold of
domestic happiness. Brothers are often more
polite and attentive to other peoples sisters
than to their own. If homes were made more
happy the statistics would no longer show that
II large proportion of the inmates OF insane asy-
lums are farmers wives and daughters.
The question of farm laber is also important.
BY Kindness TO those we employ, looking after
their welfare and making them feel we are in
getting and keeping hands.
III crops fail or prices are low the farmer has
the constant advanlag OF living in nature, sur
rounded by the beauties of the world, the songs
of birds ana the perfumes of flowers. He secs the
re-enactment OF creation around him all the
time and leads higher and purer existence
than those amid scenes OF mercantile and man
ufacturing life.